QRD – How old were you when you first got
into comics & did you always stick with them or did you come back to
them?

Dawn – I was probably six or seven when
I got introduced to comic books. It was the 80s & as kids we were all
into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Some friends had gotten a hold of the
comic books & I just remember thinking how weird the turtles all looked
in those books versus what I saw on Saturday morning TV... I figured, since
the style that the characters were rendered in was different, that these
guys weren’t very good artists & anyone could therefore draw a comic
book. I wanted to be an animator very badly back then, so I said comic
books would surely be an easy thing to fall back on if that didn’t happen.
I didn’t get seriously into comics until a few years later, after that...

QRD – What was the first comic book you
ever bought?

Dawn – One of the Aliens Versus Predator
books that were running regularly through Dark Horse at the time. My brother
& I loved Aliens, Predator, & the Terminator because they were
such badass beasties. Funny too, because about that time on the other end
of the spectrum, I probably bought my first Sonic the Hedgehog book. Because
really, what kid didn’t like Sonic?

QRD – How old were you when you put out
your first comic?

Dawn – I did Sonic for Archie when I was
19. It took me about five seconds to move onto web comics thereafter &
that’s when I did Sylvanna. Those were some hectic times, because I was
finishing my last semesters of college as well, but I couldn’t fathom doing
anything else when I graduated, so I was not complaining.

QRD – What decade do you think produced
the best comics?

Dawn – I’m totally biased because it was
my decade for getting into comics & will say the 90s.

QRD – Why comics instead of just writing
or drawing?

Dawn – Why not all three? No seriously,
I “just draw” too. I “just write.” But it’s funny because despite the incredible
amount of effort it takes to both write & draw a complete story, I
sometimes think of comics as cheating, when it comes to myself personally
producing a quality product... What I mean by that is, I feel I write well,
but I can better express myself if there’s a drawing I did accompanying
my writing. I think I’m a good visual artist, but I don’t always walk away
happy with single pin-up pieces that are meant to, in one shot, convey
a broad concept. I don’t like doing cover art because I never have enough
room. I don’t always like writing because I’m so long-winded & a horrible
editor besides.

QRD – Do you see mini-comics & indie
comics as paths to mainstream comics or as their own unique media?

Dawn – It’s funny to me because I worked
backwards. My breakout book was one of the most popular in the country
at the time. But practice always makes perfect, so I could argue that my
starting block ? Archie Comics, where I learned everything about this
art form, helped me get confidence in my ability to come up with my own
ideas & retain complete control over them. I think you have to look
at what you want to get out of your art ? what you want to get out of
a story that you want to tell. If it’s money; okay, that’s everybody &
have fun with that. If it’s fame, ditto. If it’s just to tell a good story
& hopefully get a few people to find it as engaging as you do when
creating it, you’ve got something. I think both indy & mainstream books,
the best ones, follow that ideal.

QRD – How many copies of your comic do
you print in your first run?

Dawn – One-hundred is pretty standard for
me. I also offer them online, both in print & downloads ? so what
I print is usually just for me to lug around to some convention or whatnot.QRD – How much do you think comics should
cost?

Dawn – I don’t think cost should be based
on quality of work, but again what you want out of the experience of writing
& drawing your book. If money, then $500 a piece is fair. I mean, someone’s
bound to buy one, just to see why the price is so high. If recognition
is your aim, then I suggest throwing a tickertape parade & tossing
the books around for free like confetti. I think either way, you have to
take your marketing as seriously as you take your book creation. Stop &
think if you set your price above that of a mainstream book, if you’d be
comfortable losing a portion of your audience who didn’t have that kind
of dough to spend, for a select group who pays well & might suggest
the book to other customers able to afford it. If you have a low price
or are using the books as giveaways, then understand you might have a ton
of people interested, but none of them paying to see your work ? at least,
not right away. In both cases, there is never a guarantee that anyone will
pick up your book to begin with. You should set your price not based on
how great you perceive your stuff to be, but on how well you’d think it
would stack-up against something next to it. In my experience, shooting
high is better than shooting low.

QRD – How many books do you produce a year
& how many would you like to?

Dawn – It weirds me out but with VARULV
I’ve realized, even with significant breaks in production, I’m fully capable
of finishing these 20-page black & white books in under a month’s time.
So, I guess I’m capable of 12. I don’t think I need to do more than that,
certainly. Plenty of breathing room in there, which is important to avoid
burnout.

QRD – Do you think stories should be serialized
or delivered as complete works?

Dawn – I think you need to have a complete
story ready before you go serial. I’m a fiend for epic, sweeping stories,
but they simply must have an ending of some kind. If you manage to put
out a good read, light on the continuity on a monthly basis that always
comes to a conclusion, then that’s fine, but don’t tantalize people with
loose ends that never get tied up. It comes off as unprofessional &
just plain disappointing. I almost think there was a time when this was
okay, in comics... but that’s no longer the case.

QRD – How are comic strips different than
comic books & which medium do you prefer?

Dawn – Comic strips I enjoy very much when
they’re done well. The misconception is that they take less time, when
that’s not always the case. Not just updating (period) is important, but
consistency in when, how, & where you update is too. I’m more free-form,
or at least, I trick my brain into thinking it doesn’t need to finish a
book in a certain amount of time & I become way more productive &
happy with the work I produce. I couldn’t do comic strips, because even
if I got ahead, I’d feel under pressure to create on a whim & work
under some form of pressure.

QRD – How long is it from when you start
a comic until it’s printed?

Dawn – Six weeks. I finish the work on
the book in three weeks, that generally assure the prints are ready a month
later. The company I work with (Ka-Blam!) is almost always ahead of schedule.

QRD – What do you do better with your comics
now than when you first started?

Dawn – Oh lordy, everything. I write much
better. I write smarter. Obviously, my penciling ability has only gotten
better, too. We’re talking ten years here, so I’d be disappointed if I
hadn’t improved in one spot or the other significantly, & I totally
have.

QRD – At what point in the artistic process
do you work digitally?

Dawn – After the pencils are finished,
they’re scanned & into Photoshop they go for level adjustment, toning
(or coloring, depending on what it is) & lettering. I rarely ink these
days because I have worked on clean pencils so much & only intend to
continue. It’s something I think I could come close to perfecting &
might even be known for, in the future.

QRD – What do you think of digital comics
& webcomics?

Dawn – I love them, I live by them, &
think while printed copies are preferred, you sell yourself short by not
offering at least some of your work, digital.

QRD – Do you prefer working in color or
black & white?

Dawn – Black & white. I’m too lazy
to color. Haha ? actually, I love to work in both, but black & white
showcases my pencils really well & I’ve yet to convince myself I absolutely
have to move into colored pages in the future. I’d frankly rather get books
out on time than have people waiting for me because I’m taking forever
to color something.

QRD – How many different people should
work on a comic & what should their jobs be?

Dawn – I can’t answer that one. I like
working on my own, art, story, script, letters... But that’s because I’m
a control freak, & certainly not because I have a ton of time to do
it all.

QRD – How do you find collaborators?

Dawn – I ask myself “who could seriously
stand to work with me?” & then I give up.

QRD – How tight do you think a script should
be as far as telling the artist what to draw?

Dawn – I’ve worked both ways ? I’ve penciled
from detailed, Watchmen-esque storylines that the writer has written out
to include every detail of every aspect of every corner of every panel...
to the Stan Lee “the main character beats up the bad guy & has a revelation
about something” kind of script. I work more along the lines of the latter
& find that I come up with some really neat stuff the more open-ended
& basic the concept is, but if I’m collaborating (see above answer,
by the way) I don’t mind either type of writer.

QRD – What comic book person would you
be most flattered to be compared to?

Dawn – Joe Kubert, Will Eisner, Stan...
To not just be known for the kind of work I produce, but the way in which
I do it & the legacies I leave behind because of it. That would really
get me off.

QRD – What do your friends & family
think of your comics?

Dawn – I get nothing but support &
encouragement from my friends & family. Most of the time I don’t tell
them I’m doing something because I don’t like to share something until
it’s finished & I know they can sometimes get more excited than I do.
I’m lucky, very lucky, in that way.

QRD – What do you think of superheroes?

Dawn – Love ‘em. Want to be one. Who doesn’t?

QRD – Marvel or DC?

Dawn – I’m a Marvel.

QRD – What comic characters other than
your own would you like to work with?

Dawn – Dethklok. & by that I mean,
I’d like to work with the actual fictional band, more so than a comic book
about them.

QRD – Ideally would you self-publish?

Dawn – For now, yes. That control thing
again. When I have a big chunk of the beginning of VARULV finished, I’d
like to take maybe the first compilation book, where all the big stuff’s
been established (as has my work ethic for it, let’s be honest) & see
who bites...

QRD – What conventions do you try to attend
& why?

Dawn – I tend to get lots of the East Coast
shows. I prefer smaller shows ? I’ve done San Diego, Wizard & those,
& feel always in good company, but a little lost.

QRD – What do you do to promote your books?

Dawn – Mostly web-stuff. Websites, Facebook
& all that are important (& free) places to do marketing.

QRD – Do you think your comics are well
suited to comic shops or would sell better elsewhere?

Dawn – It’d be hard to see comic shops
fade away. They’re no longer creepy dungeons frequented only by pimply
mouth breathers, after all. The comic shop of today is less intimidating
than yesterday & has really become more of an inviting geek wonderland.
The books are only part of the reason I visit my local shop, every month.

QRD – What other medium would you like
to see some of your comics made into (television, film, games, action figures,
etc.)?

Dawn – How about all of the above?

QRD – Do you consider yourself a comic
collector or a comic reader or both?

Dawn – I’m a reader, for sure. I love getting
those compilation volumes, though. I see no problem spending money on a
hardcover Marvel collection or art book, & yet I always opt for softcovers
on novels ? even the ones I really like.

QRD – What do you see as the most viable
mediums for comics distribution 10 years from now?

Dawn – Smartphones have been a great way
to pick up comics, lately. There’s that whole digital thing again I know,
but really the smartphone makes comics so easy to get a hold of ? the
same way the iPod & iTunes store made music available for people on
the go. Even if you go out & buy the paperback later on (which by the
way I think there still will be paperbacks in ten years) or you already
own it, you can’t tell me you haven’t ever sat in a crowded bus station
wishing you had the latest issue of whatever handy.

QRD – What would you like to see more people
doing with comics?

Dawn – There’s no reason that anyone who
has the desire & time to commit to producing a book, can’t produce
a book these days. If anything, I want to see more books on the indy market.
From everyone.

QRD – Anything else?

Dawn – My cat would like to type something
now:DW*HS*HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH